Army vet takes on Cantor!

Democrats who run against Rep. Eric Cantor in Virginia’s 7th district usually share a fate: a double-digit November loss.

Richmond attorney Wayne Powell knows that might be his fate this year, too. Cantor’s a formidable opponent with millions of dollars in campaign cash, a high profile and clout in Washington.

But Powell decided to try anyway, running as this year’s Democrat against the GOP majority leader in the district that includes Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Orange and Louisa counties. . .

Powell says he’s running because he’s frustrated with Congress—the partisanship, the refusal to talk to one another, the unwillingness to compromise, the brinkmanship—and he blames Cantor for fostering such an intransigent environment.

The tipping point, Powell said, was possibly last year when his son—a major in the U.S. Army, now serving in Afghanistan—got an email warning him his paychecks might stop while Congress held up a bill to avoid a government shutdown over a fight on an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood.

“We’ve got this dysfunctional group that’s totally dedicated to this social agenda and willing to let this country dissolve,” Powell said. “Eric Cantor symbolizes a lot of the dysfunction.”